Please read author's note below for a special message <3

“Scars are not injuries, Tanner Sack. A scar is a healing. After injury, a scar is what makes you whole.” 

- China Miéville, The Scar

It was all around you. That sound. The noise was like a light hissing that resonated throughout the trees. There must have been hundreds of these Kerodicarn creatures. They looked like large spiders: their bodies had many legs on them that moved with extreme agility as they sped down the trees towards you. The hissing transformed into a vibration of sound; the fast movement of their legs was echoing through the trees.

"Get Luhan, and let's go!" Suho yelled frantically as he looked back at Baekhyun.

Baekhyun nodded, but not long after, the Kerodicarn that had shot its poison at Luhan stood on its hind legs, screeching and bearing its multiple rows of teeth at him. You quickly flung your arm forward and shot a wrist blade at the creature, stabbing it directly inside its roaring mouth. The monster choked on your blade and began crying out as blood spewed from its mouth. Baekhyun stared at the dying creature with widened eyes.

"Baekhyun, come on!!!" you shouted. Another beast charged at you from the left. By reflex, you grabbed your duel blades and sliced the charging Kerodicarn in half, its guts and blood sputtering out. 

Baekhyun snapped out of his frozen trance and quickly grabbed Luhan's now sickly green body and began running back towards the rest of you. Thank goodness he's so light, he thought.

Kai grabbed his bow and quickly loaded an arrow into it, aiming at the Kerodicarns that were crawling downward. He shot one and quickly reloaded before firing at another, repeating this process. His precise eyes shot through the beasts' hard exteriors and pierced them either through their brain stems or their hearts. Their bodies flew down and smashed into the forest floor one after another as he shot them.

His eyes darted to and fro, hitting every creature he could see. Kai loaded his bow with three arrows and began running forward to the others, who were moving farther forward than he at this point. As more of the Kerodicarn came and ganged up on the others, Kai took his bow and shot at them, effectively killing or slowing them down. There must have been thirty after them, with more following down the trees.

A Kerodicarn attempted to poison Kai from behind, lashing out and hissing before jumping at him. Kai pivoted and dodged the bite of the creature, and grabbing an arrow from his quiver, he threw it at the creature, piercing it through the eye. The Kerodicarn hissed, its body leaning sideways before Kai shot another arrow at its chest, knocking it over and killing it.

"Where's that Kris guy when you need him?!" Baekhyun hollered as he wove amongst everyone, carrying Luhan's body. He realized that Luhan's body was light, not because he was just skinny, but because the poison was eating his body from the inside, decaying it at an extremely rapid pace. Baekhyun was running in the middle of you and the other three to keep Luhan's body from being taken.

You were fighting off one of the creatures when Baekhyun saw another one sneaking beside you, salivating and ready to take a bit from your leg. Baekhyun immediately responded by hoisting Luhan's body up a bit to hold him with one arm and shooting a beam of pure white light from his left hand at the Kerodicarn, zapping it with light energy and killing it.

You had killed your Kerodicarn just in time to see Baekhyun's blast. Your eyes widened at you looked at him; he smiled. "Thanks," you said breathlessly, not knowing what would have happened if the beast had blindsided you. Baekhyun smiled and winked at you. "No problem, my Destiny." "Oh, shut up, Baekhyun! This is no time to be flirting!" Kai snapped at the older boy as he stabbed a Kerodicarn, skewing it through the head. "Pssh, whatever," Baekhyun replied, rolling his eyes as the group ran through the foliage, blasting beams whenever he could.

You were panting heavily as your eyes darted back behind the group. "There are so many following us!" you yelled at the others, alerting them of the oncoming masses. It looked as if the only thing that inhabited these woods were these disgusting spider things. They were crawling out from under rocks and bushes, out from trees, and down from the high branches. It seemed as if for every one Kerodicarn you killed, five more would come in its place.

Taking your wrist blades, you began throwing them skillfully at the Kerodicarns, but you knew you only had a few left. You were running out of weapons, energy, and time. Just as you thought this, a sword came down from within the trees and impaled a monster right threw the chest. It cried out before blood flooded out from its body. You looked up and were greeted by a grinning Kris.

"What took you so long?!" you shouted at him as he flew down to the dead carcass and pulled his sword out and sliced through another one that assaulted him. "I had to make sure Aeyow was somewhere safe," he explained, smiling at you as he flew over to where everyone else was, hovering above the running group that was rushing to get away. Kris flew above everyone and attacked t